So I come home from work one day and Ray comes up to me and says, “Babe your gonna have to make a decision.” Well to keep me from turning a very short story into a long story as I often do I’m just gonna get to it. Turns out Ray spent the day on Craig’s List looking for my dream car, a vintage VW Bus and came across a good handful of them for me to choose from. Yeah, it’s kinda nice having a husband that actively tries to make all my dreams come true, but at the same time if you know me you’d know that making large purchases like this stresses me the fuck out. We went through the photos and at first I was hesitant but I gotta tell ya, the more I looked at all the buses the more I wanted one. I couldn’t help but to envision myself being the envy of everyone while driving down the road. Ugh, why does he do this to me. I finally gave in and decided to go with the most expensive one. Well it was the most expensive one for a reason. She was in great condition, with no rust; just a blank canvas ready for me to make her look pretty and it had to be fate because she lives right next to the town I grew up in in California. That’s right, California here I come, right back where I started from. In less than a week Ray and I headed west to the best state ever, you got it, California.

We met up with some of our friends of Wild Line in the city for lunch.

Loving me some Mandy

I finally got to see my girlfriend Mandy. I really miss this girl. Wish I could put her in my pocket and take her back to Texas with me. The soccer tournament was going on so we paid more attention to the television screen than we did to each other.

Watching Soccer

Look Dee even came out to play today.

Dee

The boys of Wild Line.

Boys of Wild Line

After lunch we had lunch again with our favorite Australian, Beau.

Our Favorite Australian

Later that night Lana host a dinner party for me, the guest of honor, definitely don’t get to say that often, which is why I said it. My old childhood BFF and her sister who also happens to be my sister, Lana’s childhood BFF.

BFF's

In my head Karen will always be my best friend. She’s the only person in the world, besides my little sister, Selena who truly knows my childhood.

BFF's

The boys all got along great too.

The Boys

Every time I look at this photo it brings a smile to my face. I’m so glad to see we’re all still such great friends after all these years.

photo by Gabriel Yuen

The next day I went to see Dharma for the very first time. It was love at first sight. She loves me and I her.

It Was Love At First Sight

Seriously, just look at how clean she is.

Dharma

I just wanted to be inside her, so we could be as one the way love was meant to be.

Me Inside Dharma

And then we couldn’t help but to role play. What? It was her idea.

Role Play

Unicorn straight ahead!

More Role Play

Who’s a sexy bitch?

Sexy Bitch

Just take a look at that hot ass.

Hot Ass!

It’s like a blank canvas inside ready for me to give her a new face.

My Blank Canvas

Our visit was much too short. I really didn’t want to leave my baby girl here but we made arrangements with Atlas Auto Transport to ship her to Texas for me. Good-bye Dharma. Don’t you worry your pretty little head, we’ll be together soon enough.

When we got back Lana and I went out for a short hike.

Me & My Big Sis

Oh and I forgot to mention, I met Otto, my sister’s new dog, for the first time on this trip. He’s definitely a solid 2nd for cutest dog, Kola being the first of course.

Lana & Otto

After our hike we went back home and decided the cousins needed to have a photo shoot.

Cousin's

The next day we went back to Dharma. Dealing with Atlas car rental was a lot of drama. You can read the review I gave them here to get a gist of what we had to deal with. As the old adage goes, if you want something done right you have to do it yourself, so we did. Up yours Atlas, we’re going to U-Haul. We had to wait a bit for Jay to get off work so he and his friends could help us load her up.

Loading Up Dharma

Thanks Jay, for making Dharma so pretty. Your one talented dude.

Jay and I

Filling up on gas before we head out. I can’t get this smile off my face.

My Dharma during sunset.

Dharma and sunset

On route 66. It was long.

Route 66

We stopped for breakfast.

Breakfast of Champions!

And then headed back on the road.

On the Road Again

Saw a sign for the Grand Canyon so we decided to take a detour.

Hello Grand Canyon!

Had to wake Kola up just to get out which is why he looks so sleepy.

Ray and Kola at the Grand Canyon

Me and my Kola.

Kola and I at the Grand Canyon!

Kola, seriously wake up. Your embarrassing me!

Sleepy Kola @ the Grand Canyon

More Us and Canyon

Here’s a new one, Dharma and Grand Canyon.

Dharma and Grand Canyon

Man it’s humid out here and we’re stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. Apparently there was a fatal accident up the road and some girl died. RIP.

Fucking Humid

A couple of bugs decided to stop on our windshield and do the dirty.

Dirty Bugs

Had to stop to water the rocks. The sky is so pretty right now.

Pretty Dharma

Walked up to the drive through, yes I said, “walked,” for some dinner. Kinda excited right now because I always wanted to do this.

And denied! Kinda reminds me of the time that Ray ordered food in the drive through with a Mexican wrestler mask on and got denied because the lady was scared shitless that we were going to rob them.

The next morning we finally made it to Hack Shack. Now make my Dharma pretty.

Hack Shack

And denied again. Turns out they can’t do anything until she has an engine so I had to tow her back home. Don’t worry your pretty little face Dharma, we’ll get you an engine soon enough.